Money can't buy you a Masters green jacket - or can it?

Mar. 5, 2013
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Arnold Palmer puts the green jacket on Art Wall, Jr. during the presentation ceremony in honor of Wall's victory in the 1959 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. A memorabilia collector bought Wall's green jacket at an auction in 2012 and is now in a dispute with Augusta National Golf Club, which asserts the auction house had no right to sell it because the club retains ownership of all green jackets it awards to Masters champions and/or club members. / Augusta National, Getty Images

by Jeffrey Martin, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeffrey Martin, USA TODAY Sports

Stephen Pyles has never won the Masters, but he's the proud owner of 1959 champion Art Wall Jr.'s green jacket. For how much longer is the question.

Pyles, an Ocala, Fla.-based anesthesiologist with an affinity for golf memorabilia, purchased the green jacket, one of the most prestigious and hallowed trophies in sport, at an auction in 2012 for almost $62,000. Pyles displayed it in his office for fellow golf lovers to enjoy.

Then he decided to put it back on the market, enlisting Heritage Auctions to handle the deal, hopefully for a significant profit.

That drew the attention of Augusta National Golf Club, overseer of the Masters, which moved to block any resale by declaring that the jacket was stolen, one of four that hadn't surfaced since 2010.

The club further asserted that all of its green jackets ‚?? those awarded to champions and/or club members ‚?? remain the property of Augusta National. The club allows each Masters champion to remove his jacket from club property for one year but it then must remain on club grounds.

Pyles and his attorney, Mark Senter, countered with several examples of green jackets that are long gone, such as Gary Player taking his from 1961 to his native South Africa.

"It's frustrating," Pyles told USA TODAY Sports on Monday. "I appreciate Augusta trying to perpetuate this myth about the green jacket, but it's not as true as they want people to think."

On Feb. 18, Augusta won a temporary restraining order to stop the green jacket Pyles bought from being re-sold. The order expired, but on Monday the club won a preliminary injunction that blocks the green jacket from being auctioned and also blocks Pyles from retaking possession. For now, Heritage Auctions will hold on to the jacket.

No future hearing dates have been scheduled. A resolution might not come for months, long after the 2013 tournament concludes in mid-April.

Patrick Rice, an attorney from Hull Barrett who has represented Augusta National for more than 40 years, said the club's general policy is not to comment on pending litigation.

"But I've been authorized to say Mr. Wall's jacket was stored and maintained on the premises of Augusta National," Rice said. "The jacket was stolen and removed from those premises and we are merely trying to retain possession."

Pyles believes it's his property, and accordingly, he should be able to do with it whatever he chooses.

"I'm not a member of their club, so I get hammered," he said. "I understand Augusta is saying the jacket was taken from their country club, but I don't know anything about that‚?¶ I don't know what to do. I feel betrayed."

"To me, it's a lot of money. I'd hate to see the jacket taken away. But if it is, I'd like to see it given to the Wall family."

Aaron C. Liskin, an attorney at the Los Angeles-based firm Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, doesn't think Augusta is going to face too high of a hurdle in convincing a judge the jacket was stolen, especially if the club is in possession of most of the jackets as it suggests or has reasonable records.

"They're not claiming Pyles did something illegal in purchasing the jacket," Liskin says. "Their basic claim is the earlier auction house never had the right to sell it because it was stolen‚?¶ If it was stolen, I think (Pyles) is out of luck. The idea that (Augusta National) didn't make a stink of the time at the first sale ‚?? (Senter) would have to show Augusta National was aware of the sale and said nothing."

That would sting Pyles, a self-described serious collector with a respect for a sport he has played since he was 12. He goes to Augusta every year, and he has a gallery badge from every Masters played. His interest was born when a grateful patient presented him with a trophy her father had won ‚?? Chick Harbert won the PGA Championship in 1954.

The daughter mentioned to Pyles how she was going to give him her father's green jacket, but Pyles knew Harbert had never won the Masters.

Until then, he'd failed to realize there was a market or demand for such an item, which is why he'd never intended to purchase a green jacket ‚?? until he did from GreenJacketAuctions.com, a site specializing in the sale of Masters memorabilia, which also fetched $63,000 for 1957 champion Doug Ford's jacket in 2010, its only other public offering.

Pyles never thought he'd be have any trouble parting ways with such a coveted trophy. Now, he figures his best-case scenario is getting the jacket back, but even so, he'd be out significant attorney fees. The worst-case scenario? Augusta takes the jacket, Pyles is out $60,000 plus his legal costs.

He'd be fine with something in the middle.

"I'm not interested in getting sideways with anyone at Augusta," Pyles said. "That's not my personality. If Augusta came to me and said, 'Let's work it out,' that'd be fine."